1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to various electronic devices, such as a mobile communication terminal, a digital camera, a portable multimedia reproducing device, and a portable game machine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cover apparatus for opening or closing a portion of a body of an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic device, such as a mobile communication terminal, a digital camera, a portable multimedia reproducing device, and the like, is able to be carried by a user includes a battery pack. With advances in technology, some of these electronic devices are provided with other functions in addition to their intrinsic functions and may be provided with an expanded file storage capacity by inserting or mounting an expansion pack or a storage medium.
The battery pack may be provided in an electronic device by being embedded therein. However, there is a problem in that if the capacity and thus the size of the battery pack is increased, the portability of the electronic device is deteriorated. Therefore, to secure the portability of the electronic device, the capacity of the battery pack may be reduced. In that case, the limited capacity of the battery pack may be supplemented by providing a battery pack mounting part opening/closing structure, and an extra battery pack. In order to ease the replacement of the battery pack, and to fix and protect the mounted battery pack, an additional cover is required.
In general, a slot provided in an expansion pack, a mobile communication terminal, a portable terminal or the like to insert and mount a storage medium is usually exposed to the outside. When such a slot is exposed to the external environment for a long period, pollution by foreign matter or the like is unavoidable. Thus, a cover is provided to close such a slot of an electronic device in a state in which an expansion pack or a storage medium is not inserted.
A cover apparatus is disclosed in Korean patent publication No. 10-1048181 (registered on Jul. 4, 2011). In the cover apparatus disclosed in the referenced publication, a shaft of a hinge is used to pivotably couple a cover to a case, and the cover is adapted to be pivoted by the torsion of a torsion spring. Such a cover apparatus is usually provided with a locking device in order to maintain the cover in a state in which the cover is in close contact with the case.
However, the cover apparatus of the related art provided in an electronic device causes many difficulties during assembly. Specifically, in order to assemble the shaft, the aligned state of the case, the cover and the torsion spring should be maintained. However, it is not easy to assemble the shaft while maintaining the aligned state of the three elements. Accordingly, a separate jig is used in order to assemble such a cover apparatus. In addition, since the position of the torsion spring is not constantly maintained after the torsion spring is assembled, there is high probability of causing deviations among individual products. Due to these assembling deviations, the cover's pivoting angle ranges or stopping positions differ from product to product, which makes it difficult to secure a consistent quality for products.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved cover apparatus for an electronic device to avoid assembly deviations and to ease assembly.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.